Free Fall (3 page)

"Does your family own the Live Wire?"

What? He expects me to make conversation? Nina barely heard what he said as she watched him unfold a napkin; he had strong looking hands, with long, slender fingers. She wanted to reach out and clasp one of them in her own. She glanced up and saw that he was looking at her with a question in his eyes and guiltily she wondered if he could read her mind. He leaned forward and, with his face close to hers, said, "What are you thinking?"

The next moment she was pressing her lips against his. He drew back, gave her a look of surprise, and then began to gently kiss her mouth, his lips traveling and exploring. He pushed his tongue through to meet the tip of hers and she felt a sharp ache of desire. He cupped her face in his hand and she melted against his shoulder as he kissed her more deeply, gently sucking on her lips and probing with his tongue.

After several seconds Nina realized they were in a public place and regretfully broke away. How am I going to make it through dinner? She asked herself. They both grinned at each other foolishly.

"I am irresistibly attracted to you, Nina."

Nina laughed, "I think you’re very nice too."

The appetizer arrived and as they ate Nina made small talk telling him about the bar, her brother, and her stepfather, George.

"My real father died four years ago in a car accident."

"Oh, I’m so sorry."

"Don’t worry about it. I hadn’t seen him since I was nine years old. He ran off with a woman he met on his milk route." Nina smiled, "Could you get anymore cliché? The milkman? A few years later my mom married George, who I really consider my father in all ways. After my mother died of cancer, George supported us. He worked at Boeing until a few years ago. Anyway, my real father made a lot of money in real estate, if you can believe that, probably got out before the real estate bubble collapsed in 2008." Privately she believed her father had done some shifty deals but had somehow escaped with a good chunk of money left over.

"He had about three million dollars in savings and investments when he died," she continued candidly. "He left some of it to his second wife, and the rest of it to Luke and me. So me and Luke and George pooled together and bought the bar."

"What did you do before that? Did you make your living as a singer?"

Nina gave a little laugh. "Well, Luke and I have been in several different bands, but I use to work as a technical writer," she paused, "and you? You don’t live around here do you?"

"No." Joseph was reluctant to divulge he was an actor. Some instinct was telling him she would not be impressed by it.

"I’m here on business." He answered vaguely.

"What kind of business? Never mind, I already know you’re an actor."

"Ah. The bouncer, right?" Joseph picked up the bread basket and buttered a slice.

"He sat you at the VIP table so of course we had to find out who you were."

"I have a part in a film on location here. I’m from Los Angeles."

"So how long are you in town?" She accepted the slice of bread he offered and put it on the little plate in front of her. Joseph took out another piece and buttered one for himself.

"A Few weeks, maybe a month."

"Are you married?"

"No," Joseph said truthfully. Here would be a good time to bring up the subject of Karen, but Joseph kept silent. He didn’t want to scare her off. Especially after that kiss.

"Have you lived in LA all your life?" Nina asked.

"No, I was born in Dearborn, Michigan where my father has tenure as a math professor at the University. I grew up there and attended one year at the college majoring in Dramatic Arts. I applied and was accepted at Julliard and spent four years working my way through the program. Then I moved to LA and have been working steadily as a character actor for the last fifteen years."

"Wow! Julliard," Nina was impressed. "That’s no small feat!"

The food arrived and they applied themselves to grilled pork and chicken skewers, mozzarella tomatoes, Greek olives and whole grain flat bread paired with a spinach and artichoke dip.

"Is your family still living in Michigan?" Nina asked.

"My parents are, but my sister was also an actor. She came out to LA and lived with me for a while. Now she is comfortably married and living in Malibu."

They finished the food and decided to take a walk. Joseph paid the check and they left the restaurant. Nina slipped her hand into his as they walked down Second Avenue and turned right to go down the hill to the Pike Place Market. The evening was clear and reasonably warm by Seattle standards.

The smell of fish, flowers and fresh produce became stronger as they neared the main entrance under the big red Public Market sign. In front of the famous Pike Place Fish they stopped and watched the workers behind the counter fill orders by tossing fish to one another. Then they walked the whole market from start to finish, lingering in a few of the novelty shops. Joseph bought a souvenir T-shirt with the word Seattle spelled out in raindrops.

"It doesn’t rain constantly like people say, you know." Nina said, in defense of her city. "It rains a lot, yes, but in intermittent showers, not the steady downpour that people seem to think. And not every single day. We need the rain to keep everything green, and when the sun comes out its absolutely gorgeous. Have you seen the mountain?"

"I haven’t. I came here a few years ago for the Film Festival, but I never did get a glimpse of Mount Rainier. It rained in a steady downpour the whole two days," Joseph pointed out.

"Okay, that happens once in a while, but not all year," Nina conceded.

"Maybe you could show me around. I really didn’t get a chance to see Seattle last time."

"I’d love to. We could check out Seattle Center, go up the Space Needle," she said.

"That sounds great. Do you want to do that tomorrow?"

"Sure! Hey, the first original Starbucks is right over there. Do you want to get some coffee?"

"Good idea." Joseph put his arm around her as they crossed the street. They got their coffees and sipped them as they walked back up the hill.

"My place is two blocks from here. Do you want to finish our coffees there?" Nina asked.

"Okay," Joseph agreed.

With Nina in the lead they turned a corner and walked up to a three-story brick building. Once inside they climbed up marble steps and took an elevator up to the top floor. Nina unlocked one of the doors down on the left side and they entered her apartment.

Inside, Nina led him down the hallway from the front door into her living room. Light flowed from the two floor-to-ceiling windows that covered the far wall. She dropped her purse on a stainless steel island in the kitchen and moved over to her soft blue couch.

Joseph looked out of one of the windows. "I can see the Space Needle! Very nice."

"Thank you. I was able to buy this with part of the money my father left me," she said modestly.

"I like it."

"Can I take your coat?" Nina faced him and casually slipped his jacket off his shoulders. Joseph took advantage of her closeness to put his arms around her and kiss her soft lips. Nina gave herself over to him, letting the kiss deepen, but when Joseph brushed his hand across her breast she broke away.

"Do you want to find a movie on TV?" She knew the answer to that. A kiss was one thing, but the way things were heating up, there was only one direction they could go. She felt simultaneously disappointed and a little guilty that she might have led him on by inviting him upstairs. She put his jacket on a chair and moved away from him.

"I’ve offended you," Joseph said quietly. He still stood a bit awkwardly by the window.

Nina sighed. Why did she have to spell it out for him? Yes, you’ve offended me, she thought, by being so thoroughly predictable. She said, "I can get laid anytime. It’s no big deal. That’s the upshot of being female."

"I got the feeling you were attracted to me. I must have got some mixed messages while we were in the restaurant." Joseph got his jacket off the chair. "I guess I should leave."

"
Now
I’m offended." Nina said. "You can’t get me into bed so there’s no other reason to stick around?"

Joseph stared at her. "It wasn’t my plan to get you into bed. I was just going with the moment. I told you that I found you irresistible. I’m sorry if I jumped the gun. I’m finding it hard to keep my hands to myself. I apologize."

"It’s okay," Nina said, slightly mollified.

"I’d like to get to know you better." He walked over to her and tilted her chin up to meet his eyes." Will you still show me the town? I’d really like you too."

Joseph caressed the side of her neck then bent his head to kiss her. Once again they were lost in another warm embrace. This time it was Joseph who pulled away. "See?" he said. "This is why I should leave now."

Nina smiled. "Okay, okay I get it."

"I can probably get away about four tomorrow. Pick you up at four thirty?"

"Alright," Nina said. "I’ll be here."

The next day Joseph and Trevor picked her up in front of her building and they cruised to the Seattle Center where Trevor dropped them off in front of the Space Needle. The elevators clung to the sides of the tower like big yellow bugs going up and down. On the observation deck, Joseph asked a man to take a picture of himself and Nina with his cell phone. The skies were clear and Mount Rainier showed in the background, its snow-capped majesty appearing behind them like a humongous scoop of ice cream. They stood for several minutes and looked at the Seattle skyline and saw the Monorail make its progress from Seattle Center to Westlake Shopping Center. Then they walked around to the other side to catch the sun in its descent behind the Olympic Mountain Range.

"I’m glad it's not raining today," Nina said, and pressed herself against him.

Joseph put his arm around her. "It’s spectacular!" he said. He turned towards her. "Just beautiful," he continued, looking at her profile. He picked up her hand and kissed each fingertip one by one. Nina watched him and felt kind of goofy.

"Can we eat here?" He nibbled on a finger. "I could use some dinner."

"As a matter of fact, I made a reservation." She took his hand and pulled him forward to the SkyCity restaurant.

"This is great!" he said, once they were seated. He looked through the slanted windows at the pure blue sky outside. "We’re rotating, aren’t we? It feels like I’m on the deck of a big ship."

They ordered steamed clams as an appetizer and each agreed on the king salmon as an entrée. The waiter brought them a bottle of Chateau St Michelle Riesling which went well with the exquisitely prepared meal. By the time they left the restaurant and entered the elevator for the trip down, Nina had a mild buzz.

Trevor picked them up on Broad Street and Nina directed him to the Seattle Ferry Terminal on the waterfront where they parked in a line of cars and waited for the ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Once on board, they left Trevor to his own devices and went up to the upper deck. The wind was brisk but invigorating and as she huddled against Joseph she thought that there wasn’t any other place in the entire world where she would rather be at this moment. He was eager and enthusiastic company, friendly and open to conversation with everyone, and unfailingly polite and well-mannered towards her. He was engaged in all the sights and sounds and seemed to squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of every detail. Her distrust of him from the night before had vanished. All of her defenses had fallen away.

"My stepfather has a cabin on Crystal Mountain," she said shyly. "If you can get a night away we could go there this weekend. It’s really beautiful up there. A lot of wild, untamed wilderness. Giant herds of elk walk around the little village."

Joseph turned his eyes on her and gave her a slow smile.

"It takes about two hours by car," Nina went on a little nervously. "A nice little road trip."

"I’m sold," Joseph said. He studied her and she turned to look out over the water.

She felt his eyes on her and a tingle of excitement snuck up her spine. He knew what she was inviting him for. An overnight getaway. Just the two of them. She glanced at him and saw a complacent look on his smiling face.

"There’s three bedrooms, you know."

Joseph threw back his head and laughed, "Yes, ma’am!" He hugged her to him exuberantly.

"My territory, my rules," Nina said, her voice muffled against his shirt.

"Of course. I’m completely at your mercy," Joseph replied.

On Tuesday Joseph was able to get away from the set for a few hours in the early evening. Nina took him to the Experience Music Project. They viewed the musical instrument sculptures and the artist memorabilia and found that they had similar taste in music. He gave her a kiss at her door and nothing more. After sleeping on it, Nina had regretted her invitation to the cabin that weekend. But once again in his presence, she vacillated back and forth, unable to tell him that she wanted to call it off. He came to the club that night and sat at the bar and laughed and teased with Trish and the other waitresses. Nina sang better than she had before, knowing that he was in the audience. He stayed until closing and walked her home, once again kissing her goodbye at her door. Wednesday and Thursday Joseph was busy on the set. Friday evening they attended a play at the Seattle University Theater, and enjoyed a production of The Importance of Being Earnest.